Avexa's Apricitabine Clinical Trial Update

MELBOURNE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 5, 2007 - Australian
biotechnology company Avexa (ASX:AVX) announced today the
completion of apricitabine's controlled, double blinded phase which
represents the first 24 week segment of its Phase IIb trial.
Patients have now progressed into the open-label section of the
trial (weeks 24 to 48) and will continue to receive 800mg
apricitabine twice a day as part of their daily treatment regime.
The Company expects to release results from the 24 week blinded
phase later this quarter.

Avexa also reported that apricitabine continues to maintain its
excellent tolerability profile. To date, 14 patients have completed
the full 48 weeks on the trial, and 13 of these have elected to
continue on apricitabine treatment in an extension study. The
longest treated patient has successfully completed more than 18
months of apricitabine therapy. One additional Serious Adverse
Event (hospitalization for a minor surgical procedure) has been
reported. However, like the three previously reported, this
incident was not associated with study drug.

"This data clearly demonstrates that apricitabine is well
tolerated in HIV patients. The number of patients requesting to
enter the extension study after the 48 week trial to continue
treatment with apricitabine is an indicator of the important role
that apricitabine will play in the management of HIV.
Apricitabine's clinical development remains on schedule and is
demonstrating its potential as a safe and effective treatment for
HIV," stated Dr. Julian Chick, CEO of Avexa.

Avexa Limited is a Melbourne-based biotechnology company with a
focus on research and development of drugs for the treatment of
infectious diseases, in particular diseases which have a
significant unmet medical need. Avexa has dedicated resources and
funding for key projects including antiviral drugs for HIV and an
antibiotic alternative for antibiotic-resistant bacterial
infections. The Company's lead program is apricitabine (ATC) which
has recently successfully completed the 21 day dosing of its Phase
IIb trial. The Company continues to progress ATC towards Phase III
trials. Avexa has entered into a collaboration with TargetDrug in
China to identify new CCR5 inhibitors for the treatment of HIV
infections and has an exclusive option to licence TargetDrug's lead
CCR5 inhibitor, Nifeviroc.